A safer, fairer, and more sustainable world; UN volunteers and IFRC launch global online survey

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

If you are a good Samaritan, a person who likes helping out other people, if making a difference is your thing, then the UN and the IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross) and Red Crescent Societies need to hear from you in the form of a survey, and by so doing you can fill a void in the life of someone in desperate need.

Here are some of the things this survey aims to do:

• Explore different perceptions and understandings of what it means to volunteer in each region.
• Examine how volunteers can make valuable contributions to sustainable development.
• Analyze the responses from each region to offer solutions during the Global Technical Meeting on Reimagining Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda.
• Encourage volunteers to help achieve a safer, fairer, and more sustainable world by 2045.

One of the people assisting with the social media outreach plan is Trinidadian-born journalist and creative, Kamsha R. Maharaj, who has volunteered to oversee the local and regional online campaign.

The objective of this outreach plan is to engage citizens in Trinidad and Tobago and across the Caribbean who may not know how they can volunteer in their communities and the positive effects of volunteering.

Toronto Caribbean Newspaper spoke with this Trinidadian-born journalist who has been a volunteer in her own way for several years, about what volunteering means to her, and how she plans to encourage the youths to use their time positively.

“If a child is good at math,” Maharaj said, “reach out to another child who is not as good as you are by offering that child lessons. Help your neighbor clean up around the house, or even organizing with your friends to donate food items to the other needy families. Think outside the box and do what is comfortable to you.”

Toronto Caribbean Newspaper asked Maharaj how would she envision a society in the next twenty-five years, to which the journalist answered, “With regards to volunteering, I would like to see things like young folks cleaning up the beaches or visit the old folks home at least twice a year.”

“This,” she said, “should not just be a one-off, but part of a curriculum that should be taught as an actual strategy in schools, because it all starts with the kids, and once kids are involved, parents have to be there, so it is a cycle right there.”

“It is about also trying to teach the children life skills,” Maharaj said, “That extends beyond school because when they get into a work environment one of the key things is to be able to collaborate with people from multiple ethnicities and cultures.”

Maharaj who mentors students from her alma mater (University of Leicester’s Professional Mentoring Programme) said, “I help students make up their minds with things like should I go back to school? Or if I don’t what do I do? I let them know that their first job out of university may not be their dream job, but it will be very important in developing your skills.”

That said, Maharaj told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper that there is a concern about females lagging behind when it comes to taking the survey, which is important for the UN because there must be a fifty-fifty balance and if that is not happening, it means that women are not equally represented, especially women from the Caribbean and Latin America, “We do need the representation,” she said.

The Trinidad native is hopeful that this volunteering brand catches on with the Latin American and Caribbean women, and the numbers flatten out. She knows that COVID-19 and some women’s busy schedules have had some effect in this situation, but she remains hopeful.

To get involved visit the UN Volunteers and IFRC Launch Global Online Survey link  https://poa.un75.online/partner/UNV-kamshamaharaj#s2